181 Chinese miners trapped

Chances of finding workers alive said to be remote after flooding

August 19, 2007|By Peter Spiegel Los Angeles Times

BEIJING — Rescue teams, including about 2,000 soldiers, rushed Saturday to a flooded coal mine in eastern China, where 181 miners were trapped and feared dead after severe rains breached a levee and inundated the site.

State-run media, quoting executives of Huayuan Mining Co., reported that 756 miners were working in the main part of the facility when flooding started Friday afternoon but that 584 were able to escape. In another flooded shaft nearby, an additional nine miners were trapped by the waters.

The official New China News Agency quoted the provincial mine administrator as saying the chances of finding any survivors were slim.

State-run media said the flooding in Xintai occurred after torrential rains Friday caused the swelling Wen River to breach a levee near the mine, sending water down the shafts. Soldiers of the People's Liberation Army were sent in to shore up the levee, which authorities said had been rebuilt by midday Saturday. Still, rain persisted, hampering rescue efforts and risking further flooding.

Pumps were being sent from nearby provinces to assist the rescue efforts at the mine, which government officials said had a capacity 750,000 tons of coal a year.

Villagers near the mine were evacuated, and other mines in the area were ordered to halt production.

Mining accidents are common in China, where the burgeoning economy has produced a near-insatiable demand for coal.

The death toll from the accident in Xintai in eastern Shangdong province could be the highest from any mine accident in more than two years.

In February 2005, 214 miners died in an explosion in a coal mine in the northeastern city of Fuxin; that accident was China's deadliest in decades.

Although local authorities were sounding pessimistic Saturday night, just two weeks ago 69 coal miners were rescued from a flooded shaft in neighboring Henan province three days after a similar flash flood.

According to government figures, 4,746 people were killed in 2,845 separate mining accidents in 2006 - an average of almost eight incidents every day.

Most deaths occur at illegal digs, and the number of accidents is thought to be higher than reported in government statistics. The Xintai mine operates legally.

The government ordered the closing of 10,000 small mines earlier this year. Such small operations are more prone to accidents.